Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-11
CHIEF SMITH TALKS.

committed, and asking that an officer b,
sent up at once. Chief of Police Smith a
once boarded train and went to Holiday
Cove, not returning until after dark las
| evening. After his arrival he was seen b,
a REGISTER reporter, to whom the Captain
said:
ION getting off the cars at Wheelin;
! Junction | met the Sheriff of HanCOcl
county, the Prosecuting Attorney and DR.
| J. B. Walkenshan. | was furnished will
a horse, and the whole party went over Il
the Cove. There was n great crowd o.
| people about the house, and the eXCitemen
was very great. found Mr.. Baker and
! questioned him as to what he knew of tn,
crime. He said he thought the crime wa:
committed by three men who called at the
house yesterday. They stated to him tina
they desired to rent piece of ground upOr
which to erect boarding tent for labOrer'
employed by a railroad contractor. Baker
Said he did not think he could accOmmO'
date them, and again that the price he asked
might he two high, but his visitors said they
had plenty OF money, and showed roll t.
cOTrObOrate their assertion. After some negO
| tiating, Baker said he finally agreed tC
rent piece OF ground for so per month
but said he must have the first month
rent in advance. To these terms the mel
assented, and handed over a $50 bill
| from which to take the SO for the iirSt
months rent. Mrs. Baker came ont OF tht
house, and one of the men asked her if she
could change the bill. She said she could
and handed over $40. The men then said
they would come again next Friday and
begin the erection of the shed or tent. The
men then left. Baker described the meI
after a good deal of hesitation. One, he
said was man about six feet tall, with
black whiskers. His memory had to bc
logged at frequent intervals, and he failed
to create the impression that he was
telling the truth. One of the other mel
he said, was short, stout German, who
had little or nothing to say, and when
asked about the third man, responded that
he had nothing to say, either, hut added
after a time that he was the man who had
the money. This man had mark in
India ink on his left arm.
Leaving Baker, | made careful inquiry
among the railroad men, to see if could
obtain any trace of the three men answer
ing the rather lame description ! had OBJ
tanned, but could find no one who knew
anything of them, and was also told that
there was no necessity tor a boarding tent
ut that particular point. asked Mr..
Baker 10 write down for me a minute de
ScriptiOn of the three men, but he made
various excuses for not doing it. lie
showed little agitation and no sOrrOw, and
To look mt him, and observe his actions,
one would never suspect that he had any
interest in either the victims of the muir
der or in ferreting out the guilty persons.
"FrOm an examination OF the bodies and
their surrOundigs | came to the firm con-
clusiOn that the crime was committed
sometime Monday afternoon or evening.
The physicians were also of this opinion.
The eyes of both the murdered women
were tightly shut, as though they had
been closed by some one after death. The
women were attired in their night clothes,
hut these garments had evidently been
put on the bodies after death, to create
the impression that the murderOus blows
had been struck while they were
in bed Their dresses and skirts,
covered with blood, were found in another
part of the house, in tub. One of the wO'
men even had night cap pulled over her
head and beneath it were the CHASTITY
wounds, which had evidently been struck
before the cap had been put on. The whole
aspect fittings pointed irreSiStably to Baker
rs the murderer. Half the people COnvCr-
sant with the facts hold this view, and il
is likely he has been arrested before this.
There was not the slightest reason why
burglars should have killed the women.
Mrs. MCWha was seventy years of aye,
helpless from weight of years, while Mrs.
Baker, although but iorty-fve, was an
invalid, and incapable Of seriously inter.
iering with the operations OF any one bent
upon robbery. Had the house been in
yaded 10y thieves the chances, ten to one,
are that they would simply have tied the
two women, and plundered the premises
Mt their leisure.
ION the other hand, there is no lack OF
motive for Baker found that when
he, a young man of brilliant education, had
married Miss McWha, the people of the
neighhorhoOd set it down that he was after
the old lady's money. Mrs. McWha, the
widow, was pretty well off in this worlds
goods, having 5000 in Government
bonds, in addition to a quantity OF real
estate and q round sum in PittSburg
bank, while the provisions of her will left
this property to her daughter, and at the
latter's death it went TO her husband, Mr..
Baker The daughter was an old maid
when Baker married her, and rs | have
said, there was a good deal OF gossip of an
unComplimentary sort, at the time of the
wedding.
,'There was plenty of time for Baker tC
have done the foul deed Monday after
noon, and then to have gone to his father :
and Staid over night The latter's home
is only eight miles from the Cove. | have
said the clothing of the women had been
removed and packed in wash tub, in au-
/ other part of the house. Even the shoes
OF one of the women, covered with blood
| as they were, had been taken off and set
out i'm another room. / trail of blood
also led from the sitting room, where the
bodies Law, to the kitchen, and | think
| the crime was committed there.
"Iu the room with the bodies found an
| axe. a ear bolt, with a large head on it,
covered with blood, and a coupling pin.
One of the woman had three sharp cuts,
three or four inches long, over and behind
the forehead, which looked rs if they had
been made with an axe, while the other
head had been crushed in with heavy blows
from the bolt. | saw no blood on tht
coupling pin or the axe, but they had
evidently both been provided for possible
use in the commission of the deed. The
people are terribly excited, and if the crime
is fastened upon Baker, rs believe 1t vii
he. they will make short work of him.
! ARUMOR or BAKERS ARREST.
Last evening passengers coming dOwr
on the c. x p. train from Steubenvill'
stated that Baker had been arrested by or
der of the Coroner pending the conclusion
of the investigation. From the nature o
the evidence, this report seems to he wei
founded. If the murders aIe fixed upoI
him the horror ofthe crime is greatly in
creased. Doubtless to-day's events vii
settle his guiltor innocence conclusively